Role in IT decision-making process:Align Business & IT GoalsCreate IT StrategyDetermine IT NeedsManage Vendor RelationshipsEvaluate/Specify Brands or VendorsOther RoleAuthorize PurchasesNot Involved

Work Phone:

Company:

Company Size:

Industry:

Street Address

City:

Zip/postal code

State/Province:

Country:

Occasionally, we send subscribers special offers from select partners. Would you like to receive these special partner offers via e-mail?YesNo

Your registration with Eweek will include the following free email newsletter(s):News & Views

By submitting your wireless number, you agree that eWEEK, its related properties, and vendor partners providing content you view may contact you using contact center technology. Your consent is not required to view content or use site features.

By clicking on the "Register" button below, I agree that I have carefully read the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy and I agree to be legally bound by all such terms.

Toshiba Cuts NAND Flash Production by 30 Percent

Wholesale pricing of NAND chips, specifically low-end products used for USB memory sticks and memory cards for digital cameras, has gone steeply downhill in the last 12 months.

Toshiba, which invented NAND flash back in the late 1980s, revealed July 24 that it is trimming its production of flash-memory chips for the first time in more than three years due to an overflow of inventory.

Sales overall in NAND flash chips have been sluggish for the better part of 2012, as evidenced in this recent IHS iSuppli market report. Product is piling up in Toshiba's warehouses, as it is at chief competitor Samsung.

Wholesale pricing of NAND chips, specifically low-end products used for USB memory sticks and memory cards for digital cameras, has gone steeply downhill in the last 12 months, despite the continued sales of electronic devices with solid-state storage. The continued rise in the amount of personal and business data stored in cloud services is a likely factor affecting the slowdown of sales in memory sticks, desktop storage devices and cameras.

Toshiba's Yokkaichi plant in Mie, Japan, cut its NAND flash production by 30 percent, the company said.

Further reading

Toshiba, Samsung and Hynix had increased their solid-state drive (SSD) output in 2010 and 2011, projecting strong demand for smartphones, tablet PCs and lightweight notebook computers that use NAND chips in place of hard-disk drives.

Nonetheless, global demand for flash chips hasn't matched the stored-up supply. The IT device industry suffered due to lower SSD prices in the first half of the year, when demand for electronics is normally down after the holiday shopping season, but it hasn't recovered. Thus, wholesale prices of Toshiba's NAND chips for memory cards and USB memory sticks fell more than 20 percent, Toshiba said.

Samsung is currently No. 1 in world SSD revenue with 37 percent market share; Toshiba is No. 2 at 34 percent, IHS iSuppli reported in June. Hynix and Micron are key smaller players.